Shloka 49
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
जिन्होंने तीनों लोकोंका हित करनेके लिये यज्ञमय वराहका स्वरूप धारण करके इस पृथ्वीको रसातलसे ऊपर उठाया था, उन वीर्यस्वरूप भगवान्को प्रणाम है ।।
yaḥ śete yogam āsthāya paryaṅke nāgabhūṣite | phaṇāsahasraracite tasmai nidrātmane namaḥ ||
जो योगमाया का आश्रय लेकर शेषनाग के सहस्र फनों से बने पलंग पर शयन करते हैं—उन निद्रास्वरूप परमात्मा को नमस्कार है।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches reverent recognition of the Supreme Lord’s quiet sovereignty: even in ‘sleep’ he sustains and protects the cosmos through yoga. Ethically, it models humility and devotion—acknowledging that worldly order and welfare rest on a higher, steady principle beyond human power.
In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma is instructing and also offering hymnic salutations. Here he praises the Lord (Vishnu/Narayana) as reclining on Śeṣa’s thousand-hooded couch, invoking the image of cosmic repose that underlies creation’s stability.